Beer Articles

Stouts are black and Porters are brown. While not true in every case, this rule of thumb has become a beneficial tip in our tasting room when tasting through the annual Stouts and Porters category of our World Beer Championships. These traditional English dark ale styles share so much in common flavor-wise that the degree of lightness, both of color and texture, is an important compass to use on the quest to dissect (not fuss over…) their differences. A beer’s color is a good starting point in determining whether or not a brewer nailed a particular style and we usually find that if a beer’s color is correct, its aroma and flavor elements are more likely to be correct. more >>

Each year we devote a session to ‘specialty beers’. This category is reserved for beers that don’t necessarily fit nice and neat into the confines of standard style guidelines. Some beers in this category are fruited, some barrel aged and others even gluten-free, but what they all have in common is that they’re brewed with the style guidelines thrown out the window.

Geographically one of the smaller continents, Europe has arguably contributed more to beer than any other region. The birthplace of not just stouts, porters and English-style ales, Europe is also the origin of altbier, kölsch, saison and a myriad of Belgian styles. more >>